what doea a lack of life mean?

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2009, pp. 307-340

LACK OF LIFE MEANING

Fahlman et al.

Does a lack of life meaning cause boredom? Results from psychometric, longitudinal, and experimental analyses
Shelley A. Fahlman, Kimberley B. Mercer, Peter Gaskovski,
Adrienne E. Eastwood, and John D. Eastwood

Existential theory and previous qualitative research have suggested that a lack of life meaning and purpose causes boredom, as well as other types of negative affect such as depression or anxiety. Although these variables have been shown to be correlated at one point in time, the relationships among these constructs have not been investigated using a controlled, quantitative research design. In Study
1a (N = 131), boredom was shown to be related to, yet psychometrically distinct from, life meaning, depression, and anxiety. In Study 1b (N = 88), life meaning significantly predicted changes in boredom across time while depression and anxiety did not. In addition, boredom was a significant predictor of changes in life meaning across time, while depression and anxiety were not. Finally, in Study 2 (N
= 102), manipulating perceptions of life meaning significantly changed boredom, while a manipulation of mood did not. The nature of the relationship between life meaning and boredom, as well as some clinical implications, are discussed.

Boredom is a common yet insidious human experience. Although boredom makes “no grand gestures, nor great cries” (Baudelaire,
1993, p. 7) and, on first glance, appears deceptively simple, a closer examination reveals an intractable and complex malady. The term boredom is used to refer to a wide range of experience, from trivial and transient dissatisfaction, to extreme, chronic suffering. In terms of its defining elements, however, boredom involves dissatisfaction with and disengagement from one’s environment and/or current acPortions of this research (Study 2) are based on the Master’s

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